Summary
- Half-Life 3 may be announced in 2025, as hinted by recent Source 2 datamining.
- Valve is reportedly in the polishing and optimizing stage, nearing development completion.
- Other hints, such as a cryptic post from G-Man's voice actor, suggest a potential Half-Life 3 announcement in 2025.
A new rumor has suggested that the long-awaited Half-Life 3 could finally be announced in 2025. Fans have waited over two decades for any concrete news about Half-Life 3, but Valve has remained tight-lipped over the years about the potential project.
Since the release of the 1998 original, Half-Life has always been at the forefront of innovation in the FPS genre. Both Half-Life and its 2004 sequel are considered to be among the best first-person shooter games of all time, setting new bars that future games in the genre would attempt to emulate. The most recent game in the series, Half-Life: Alyx, was considered to be one of the first killer apps for virtual reality, but its VR exclusivity meant that few players got their hands on it.
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After two decades of rumors, Half-Life 3 could be closer than gamers think. In a recent YouTube video by dataminer Tyler McVicker, it was revealed that more references to a mysterious project named HLX have been found in a recent Dota 2 update. HLX references have been appearing in Source 2 titles for a while now, and, based on what has been found so far, is believed to be the codename for a single-player FPS title set in the Half-Life universe, most likely Half-Life 3. According to McVicker, Valve usually decides whether to abandon projects after the holiday season, so the fact that new references to HLX are appearing now is a good sign that progress is still being made at the moment.
Half-Life 3 Could Be Announced in 2025 According to Dataminer
Importantly, McVicker states that the strings found in the Dota 2 update indicate that Valve is "polishing and optimising," which is usually one of the last stages of development. He claims that "we may be closer than even I originally thought, with an announcement possibly in 2025," before clarifying that this doesn't necessarily mean Half-Life 3 will be released this year. This all lines up perfectly with another rumor from last year, which hinted at a 2025 announcement for Half-Life 3, but gamers will have to wait and see what Valve has planned.
Source 2 datamining isn't the only hint that Half-Life 3 is coming. At the end of 2024, a cryptic post from the G-Man's voice actor hinted at more Half-Life in 2025, so it seems like the stars could finally be aligning. It's pretty crazy to think about. Half-Life 3 has been so highly requested by the gaming community that it's pretty much become a massive meme, and many have given up hope that it will ever be released. If these rumors are to be believed, this could finally be the year gamers get some clarification from Valve.
